Duckworth Announces Chicago Union Apprentice Lily Wu as State of the Union Guest

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that she is bringing Lily Wu, a Chicagoan and first-generation American, as her guest to the State of the Union address tonight. Lily is a third-year apprentice with IBEW Local 134 in Chicago and the daughter of Chinese immigrants who is trying to break into a male-dominated field and achieve the American Dream. To arrange an interview with Lily or Senator Duckworth, please contact Sean at sean_savett@duckworth.senate.gov.

“I am proud to bring Lily to the State of the Union tonight to remind my colleagues about the critical need to invest in our communities, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and support apprenticeship programs that give workers the skills they need to succeed in high-demand industries across our country,” said Duckworth. “In the face of the President’s attacks on immigrants, I also believe it is important to send a message about the valuable contributions immigrant families make to our country.”

Duckworth has been a strong advocate for promoting career and technical education and apprenticeship programs. She has previously introduced the Community College to Career Fund (CC2C) Act, whichwould address the “skills gap” by supporting innovative partnerships between technical colleges, community colleges and businesses that train students for careers in high-demand fields like advanced manufacturing, health care, clean energy, and information technology. She has also previously introduced the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Opportunity Act to help reduce the burden of student loan debt while closing the “skills gap” by removing antiquated eligibility restrictions that prevent students enrolled in many CTE programs from receiving federal student aid.

Since she was elected to the Senate, Duckworth has been a vocal advocate for increasing our infrastructure investments and creating good-paying jobs. She was recently named the Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over America’s freight and passenger network and pipeline safety.

In 2018, Duckworth brought Cairo Junior/Senior High School Principal Lisa Childs Thomas as her guest to the State of the Union. Childs Thomas grew up in Alexander County’s McBride public housing complex, which the Trump Administration chose to shutter without any clear plan to rehouse hundreds of Illinoisans who will be displaced. In 2017, Duckworth brought Abdulla Sindi, an Iraqi-American former U.S. military translator who was forced to flee for his life from his native Kurdistan region of Iraq after he worked with U.S. forces to enforce the no-fly zone following Operation Desert Storm.